Canada’s Lindsay Jennerich, Patricia Obee race to world rowing silver

AMSTERDAM – Canada’s Lindsay Jennerich and Patricia Obee raced to a silver medal in the women’s lightweight double at the world rowing championships Saturday.

The Victoria duo battled strong winds that blew down the Bosbaan rowing venue to finish behind New Zealand in the season finale. China claimed the bronze.

“This is validation,” said Jennerich. “I am already excited to start training again. The ultimate goal is Rio (2016 Olympics).”

It was the second world silver medal for the Canadians, who finished second three years ago in Bled, Slovenia.

Will Crothers and Rob Gibson of Kingston, Ont., Conlin McCabe of Brockville, Ont., and Kai Langerfeld of North Vancouver, B.C., finished fifth in the men’s four, a big improvement over their 14th-place finish at last year’s world championships.

Great Britain won the gold, the United States was second, while Australia won bronze.

The women’s quadruple sculls crew of Emily Cameron of Summerside, P.E.I., Kate Goodfellow of Perth, Ont., Carling Zeeman of Cambridge, Ont., and Antje von Seydlitz-Kurzback of Smithers, B.C. — silver medallists at last year’s world regatta — finished sixth.

The Canadians raced out of Lane 6 because of their third-place finish in the semis, five lanes over from the German gold medallists.

“I think we learned a lot here, about how the week progresses,” said Seydlitz-Kurzback. “It’s really important to place well in each round because that determines lane draw in the subsequent race, which determines the favoured lanes.”

China won the silver, while the United States took the bronze.